Include your target keyword in relevant places

Including your target keyword within key elements of your page will help Google (and your readers) understand what the page is about:

• Page title
• URL
• Main header (H1)
• Subheaders (some of your H2s, H3s, etc.)
• Intro paragraph

Or put another way: it would be weird to write an article on “brewing espresso” without mentioning the phrase “brewing espresso” in the title or introduction.

It helps to include some exact-match keywords in these important locations, but Google is also smart enough to recognize synonyms and related keywords. If your target keyword is three or four words long, you don’t need to include it as an exact match every time.

There’s no magic keyword density to aim for, and including lots of keywords in unnatural ways can actually hurt your performance (it’s called keyword stuffing).

Your goal here is to clearly and consistently tell Google (and your readers) precisely what your article is about.